


The Lucas Deception

by jujubiest



Series: The Lucas Compendium [12]
Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: M/M, The Last Death of Henry Morgan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 08:38:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6322528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jujubiest/pseuds/jujubiest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucas and Adam have a plan to get away, but first they have to do something about Henry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lucas Deception

Lucas tried not to fidget as he stepped onto the elevator. He technically had no reason to appear nervous, after all, so appearing so would draw suspicion. He pressed the button for the basement level, where the evidence locker was located, and resolutely did _not_ tap his thumbs on the heavy binder he was carrying.

The ride down to the basement level seemed to take a small eternity.

When the elevator doors finally opened, he stepped out into the dingy hallway, a tunnel of gray concrete and white-painted cinderblock, dimly-lit by old fluorescent lights that always seemed to be flickering on the edge of life.

Lucas forced his hands to his sides and walked purposefully up to the window by the gate, the binder making him feel weighed down on one side, off-balance. The cop on duty, Brenda, was a short, rotund woman with a round, smiling face and a drawling accent he doubted she’d picked up anywhere in the tristate area. She was an unsuspicious sort of person, probably not the best quality for a cop. He knew her well enough to know that while she’d never allow a bag through the doors, she wouldn’t look askance at an M.E.’s assistant carrying a large notebook. He offered her a smile as he reached for the sign-out sheet.

“What’re you checking out today, honey?” She asked with polite interest.

“Oh, uh…just the blade fragments from the…the Henderson case. We need to compare them to a wound on our D.B.”

Brenda wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“I don’t know how you spend all that time around dead people. I think I’d find it awful depressing.”

“You’d be surprised,” Lucas said, keeping his voice carefully genial. “There you go.” He handed the clipboard back to her through the slot at the bottom of the window. She gave it a cursory glance before buzzing him in.

“You need help finding it?” She asked.

“No, I’m all set,” he said quickly. “Don’t let me trouble you.”

Brenda settled gratefully back into her chair. Lucas was pretty sure she suffered from some back problems, which was why she remained downstairs in an ergonomic chair.

“Thanks sugar,” she said. Lucas smiled and nodded as he passed, heading for the aisle where he knew the Henderson evidence box was stored.

He grabbed the packaged knife fragments out of the box—he did actually need them—and then quickly moved down the aisle. Lucky for him that “Henderson” and “Griffin” were on the same aisle.

Looking quickly around and seeing no one, Lucas pulled out the box and gingerly removed the wrapped dagger. He slipped it between the pages of the binder, noting with satisfaction that it made no noticeable difference in the notebook’s thickness. He had removed enough of the paper from the center that there was a handy gap there into which the dagger fit snugly.

He replaced the lid on the box and pushed it back into place, adjusted the notebook so that it was held tightly under his arm, and headed back toward the front, the package of knife fragments clearly visible in the hand that would be facing Brenda’s booth as he walked out.

“You find it okay?” She called from her perch. He nodded and smiled.

“Take care of yourself, Brenda,” he said kindly, hoping it didn’t sound too final. But if all went well tonight, this would be the last they ever saw of each other.

“You too, sugar. Don’t forget to sign that back in when you’re done with it, now!”

“I won’t,” he promised falsely, feeling only a little bit guilty. It was very likely Brenda would get into trouble when the dagger came up missing, but he was weighing some career inconvenience for a casual friend against a life with the man he loved, and there was no question which way the scales tipped.

He made his way back down the hall quickly, forcing himself not to break into a run. He hit the up button perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary, waiting anxiously as the elevator groaned its way down the shaft.

The ride up seemed even longer than the ride down.

But finally, _finally,_ he was stepping out onto the morgue floor. Unfortunately for him, this was also the floor that housed the main area of the precinct, separated only by a couple of short hallways. Meaning he could run into Jo, Mike, or the Captain at any moment.

Luckily, he didn’t. Luckily, he made it back to the morgue and the M.E.’s office without running into a single soul, and placed the dagger under a stack of papers on Henry’s desk with shaking hands.

That task completed, he sent a brief text to “Ethan” in his phone— _Mission Accomplished—_ and then settled down to wait. If Lucas knew Henry, the first thing he would do when he got here would be to attempt to steal the dagger. And he would get caught, and possibly reveal his secret in the process, because Jo was not a stupid woman. She would have told Brenda not to allow Henry into evidence lock-up unsupervised.

But Henry would have to pass this room to get there, and for the first time Lucas was grateful for its odd design. He would be able to see Henry clearly through the glass, and he would hopefully be able to stop him.

As luck would have it—and he did seem to have an abundance of it today—Henry actually came into the morgue without prompting and _asked_ for his help.

“Lucas,” he said without preamble, his tone urgent to the point of nearly panicky. “There is a knife in evidence lockup. I need to do a metallurgy test on it. Could you fetch it for me, please?”

Lucas smiled apologetically, not moving from his chair.

“No can do, doc! Jo came down. She said you’d ask. She also said if I gave it to you, I’d be fired and possibly be prosecuted for evidence tampering. Case is closed. Guess it’s back to your old day job, right? Might want to get started on that stack of paperwork in your office there.”

“Lucas, this is no time—”

Lucas didn’t know where he found the nerve, but he found it. He interrupted Henry, practically snapping at him.

“Do paperwork! Now!”

Henry looked at him with disbelief. Lucas met his gaze calmly, begging him to catch on. Slowly, something seemed to dawn. He walked straight into his office and found it there, right where Lucas had left it: under a stack of forms Henry would likely never fill out.

Lucas’s gut twisted with guilt, but he pushed the feeling aside. He liked Henry. He really, really did. And he had an enormous amount of respect for the man. But if it was Henry or Adam, Lucas had made his choice nearly two years ago, and there was no going back now.

“Lucas,” Henry said softly, coming back into the room, that sense of urgency still coloring his voice. “They’re going to know it was you.”

Lucas shrugged.

“When I started here, I…I just thought it’d be cool to work around dead bodies, you know? Truth be told, I snuck in here a few weekends and made some short films.” It wasn’t true. But Henry would believe it, the way he’d believed all the little lies Lucas told to keep people at an uncomfortable distance.

“I’m sorry,” he said unrepentantly. And then, because it might be his last chance, he decided to tell Henry the truth…or at least some small part of it. “But working with you…I…I now know, what’s possible with the living. I mean, how many people can say that they’ve truly witnessed greatness? Besides…commands are no constraints, right Henry?”

Henry did a double take.

“Did you just quote Milton?”

“Yeah. Actually, I looked it up in anticipation of this conversation. I wanted to sound smart.” Another lie Henry would believe.

“You _are_ smart, Lucas,” Henry said, with real feeling. “I’m…I’m proud of you.”

And there it was, finally…the thing Lucas had been looking for in Henry’s eyes from the beginning. He _was_ proud, he really meant it. And he did care about Lucas, for all that they both worked just as hard to keep everyone at arm’s length.

It was everything he had wanted, once upon a time. And it was far, far too late for it now. He smiled, hoping Henry wouldn’t notice the sadness in it.

“Cool,” he said.

And then Henry was gone, with a last grateful smile. Lucas took a deep breath and sent Adam another text to confirm that Henry had the dagger.

He went to the coat closet and pulled on his jacket, grabbing his keys from the pocket. He headed out the door without saying anything to anyone, his mind on getting his car to that familiar spot by the river.

All he could do now was wait.


End file.
